I want you to open your Bibles
now to Revelation chapter 1 first. Just make a comment here before
I go back to the text. In most of the King James translations, it has the revelation
of St. John the Divine. Well, you might call this book
of Revelation the Revelation to John, but it's not the Revelation
of John. I don't like to do things like
this, point out changes that I feel would be beneficial and
helpful, but this is one that would. And remember, this doesn't
have anything to do with what's written in the Scriptures. This
is the title that those who translated gave to this book, the Revelation
of John. John? Well, it's not. It's the
revelation to John. It's the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You say, how do you know that,
preacher? Well, read the first three verses. The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass. and he sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant John." It's the revelation of
Jesus Christ to his servant John. "...who bear record of the word
of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein, for the time is at hand." With that
in mind, go to Revelation 19, if you will. This is the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And John was so overwhelmed by
what he had seen, overwhelmed by what he had heard, and the
things that had been taught him and revealed to him, he was so
overwhelmed that it says in verse 10 that he fell down at the feet
of the angel. The angel that had brought him
this word and brought him this message and brought him the things
that he was to write, he fell down at that angel's feet to
worship him, and the angel rebuked him. And he said to him, verse
10 of Revelation 19, See thou do it not. Do it not. Don't fall down even before an
angel, before any religious leader or any religious relic. or any
religious stature. Don't fall down before any. The Apostle did the same thing.
When men would fall before them and they called Paul Jupiter
and so forth, you know, he said, I am but a man. Arise. Peter
did the same thing. Arise. Don't fall down before
me. It troubles me to see men falling
before religious leaders and before things of this nature.
He said, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus, worship God. Only worship God. Only bow before God. Now, I can sort of understand
John's fear and reverence before this angel. Now, I can't for
the life of me understand falling before a man who is a leader
of a religious organization like the Pope or a priest or a cardinal. I can't for the life of me understanding
anybody falling before a natural man and only because I've read
this and have not experienced. Let's don't be too hard on John.
Let's don't be too hard on John. He was there on the Isle of Patmos
and the very glory of God was about him. And the angel of God
talked to him and all the must have been the brilliance and
the majesty of this angel's appearance. You know, when Moses came down
from the mountain, having received the Ten Commandments, he had
to put a veil over his face. He'd been in the presence of
the Lord, and the glory of God was so manifested on his face,
they had to cover it up, they couldn't look at him. And here
John, the apostle, had He met an angel right from the throne
of God, right from the presence of the Lord with the message
of God. He just fell down before him. And I can understand, to
a degree, I can understand men continually searching for proofs
of some of the things written in the Word. They keep looking
for the ark, Noah's ark. They keep somebody forever trying
to find that ark, you know, and bring it back. And they're forever
looking for the birthplace of Christ. I hear these TV preachers
talking about, I heard one this morning, how he stood last year
there at the birthplace of Christ. Well, somehow folks just get
something out of that. It appeals to the natural senses. They keep looking for the scene
of the crucifixion. They keep looking for the burial
place of Christ. And someone told me last week,
that somewhere over there that they had dug up a piece of cloth. They had this on television,
on national news and everything. I didn't see it, but the fellow
that saw it, it impressed him. And I know that I let him down
because I wasn't impressed when he told me. But he said they'd
found this cloth, and it was the cloth that was around the
head of Christ when he was buried. It had the holes in it where
the the crown of thorns were, and had different marks, had
some stains on it, which they attested to the fact that it
was blood. And he was so impressed, and
it was a breathtaking thing to him. It appeals to our idolatrous
nature, that's what it appeals to. Now I'm going to show you
an example from the Word of God of this sort of thing. that God
gives us, and I wish that all of us would flee from these things
that appeal to the natural spirit. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him, worship Him in spirit and truth. If they found over
yonder, around the Dead Sea or in a cave, a full copy of the
New Testament, it wouldn't confirm any more my faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I believe in Christ Jesus. I
receive them as my Lord and Savior. If they found the tomb with his
name carved on the rock, it wouldn't make me believe anymore. Not
anymore. If they found the wood, the cross
itself with the sign over it that Pilate had written, this
is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, would it help you
to believe? If it would, you're in a dangerous
state if your confidence and faith is in signs and wonders. Our Lord said there'll no sign
be given but this book right here. And if they receive not
Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, though one
rose from the dead. Don't look for visions, or dreams,
or trances, or signs, or relics, or historical places. God is
a living, Christ is a living God. We worship Him in spirit. Man believes with his heart,
not with his eyes. He believes with his heart, not
with his hands. What would you do if you found
that cross? Would you go and clutch it to yourself and kiss
it? Would it help you? Let me tell
you something. The thief, or rather the soldier
that was standing under that cross when Christ died, I don't
know how high he was raised in the ground. Some say he was just
off the ground a little way. Some say it was up high. I don't
know. But the man that drove the nails in his hands, that
soldier, and the blood of Christ splattered all over him, that
blood has no efficacy and no power to put away that man's
sins. If he'd have been bathed in the blood of Christ without
faith, there's no remission of sins. Without faith in the blood. It's faith in the blood. You
see what I'm saying? Many people saw Christ who never
saw Him. Many people heard Him who never
heard Him. Why, the disciples said, listen. He was in that
crowd and people were pushing against Him. He stopped and said,
somebody touched me. And the disciples reacted just
like you and I would react. Master, the people all touched
you. Somebody touched me, He said.
Somebody with a need. Somebody with faith. Somebody
with faith. You see, there were dozens of
people around him, dozens of people touched him. One woman
with faith, that somebody touched him and was made whole. And it
was a touch of faith. It wasn't just touching his earthly
body. It wasn't the splattering of
his natural blood. It wasn't embracing that block
of wood. It wasn't going into the tomb
of Christ. It was looking by faith to the
ascended, risen, exalted Lord. Now turn to 2 Kings, and let
me show you something here, and this is important. In the book
of 2 Kings, chapter 18. 2 Kings 18. Let me ask you a question
here. Suppose that over yonder somewhere
they dug up the brazen serpent that Moses made. Now that'd be something, wouldn't
it? Now you talk about something we could put down here and get
some money. Get folks to come touch that thing. Or maybe raise
it up here on a pole out in the church parking lot and sell tickets
and let folks look at it. That'd be real religious. Well,
that's exactly what the Jews did. They worshipped that thing. They saved it. They saved that
thing. They preserved it for years.
That serpent of Bragg, when the fire serpents had bitten the
people, And God told Moses to make that serpent of brass and
put it on a pole. He did. And they were healed
by looking to it. And they saved it. And they worshipped
it. And there was a young man called Hezekiah, who was 25 years
old, who took the throne of Israel. And he reigned for 29 years.
But one of the first things he did, look at 2 Kings 18, verse
3. And he did that which was right
in the sight of God according to all that David his father
did. He removed the high places, these
shrines and altars. He breaks the images, the statues. He cut down the groves and he
breaks in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. Boy, don't
you know that was sacrilegious. He breaks in pieces the serpent
that Moses made. I had a friend that had a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those big pictures, you
know, Solomon's head of Christ, and he had one of Christ praying
in the garden there by that rock, you know. He got convicted about
it. The Lord taught him that that
was nothing in the world but an idol. It was a graven image. That's exactly what it is. Our
Lord tells us to not make any graven image of anything in heaven
or earth. And he took that picture, and
he was going to burn it. He was going to burn it. He started out the back door
with it, and his sister was visiting. And she liked to have a convulsion. She said, what are you going
to do? He said, I'm going to burn this idol. She said, you can't
burn Jesus. You wouldn't burn Jesus. He said,
Sister, this is not Jesus. She said, I know it, but it's
a representative of him. And he said, yes, an idol. That's
exactly what it is. But she wouldn't hold still.
She fought with him. He was about to burn her God.
And this man took this, he took this brazen serpent that Moses
made, listen, for unto those days the children of Israel did
burn incense to it. And he called it mehushtan. And you know what that means?
I don't. I see it in the margin of my Bible. A worthless piece
of brass. That's what he called it. A worthless
piece of brass. Now I'll just be bold enough
to tell you this. If they found the cloth that
was wrapped around the head of my Lord, I'd say it's burnt.
It's a worthless piece of cloth. If they found the cross on which
his body hung, I'd say burn it. It's a worthless block of wood.
You can spend your time going over to visit these holy shrines
that are nothing in the world but a hole in the ground. That's
all they are. Salvation is in a person. And
I'm warning you against idolatry. God hates idolatry worse than
he hates murder. God hates idolatry worse than
he hates adultery. God hates idolatry worse than
he hates stealing. That's right. You go back through
the Old Testament, you'll find that Israel, the judgment of
God, came more upon Israel because of idolatry than all sins put
together. God alone will be worshiped.
God alone will be adored. God alone will be reverenced.
God alone will be held in honor and esteem. And I do pray, I
do hope that all of us can be totally delivered from any of
this symbolism in religion, this representative thing, visual
aids, burning of candles, the wearing of uniforms, the sweeping
about in robes, anything to appear religious, to give an atmosphere
of religion. If I can't walk with God, Day
by day, I'm not going to worship an idol on Sunday. That's right. If God does not dwell in my home,
then the God I worship here is not the God of the Bible. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's the same on Thursday
and Friday as He is on Sunday. We walk with God. We come here
together to worship the living God. The same God that I walk
with day by day, six days a week, I worship on the fourth day.
in the same way, except with his people as we gather together
to hear the word proclaimed and preached and join our hearts
together in praise and prayer and singing and worship and exhortation,
edification, these things. Don't ever put a cross in your
lapel. Don't ever carry something in your pocket to remind you
you're a Christian. Don't ever carry a lucky Saint Jude piece
or something. That's idolatry. Don't do it. Don't make grave an image. If
you've got a picture in your house that's called Jesus, take
it out and burn it. And do it quickly. Do it quickly. Because I say unto you, God is
a spirit. And they that worship Him, worship
Him in spirit and truth. I'm telling you the truth. Run
from idolatry. Fear idolatry. Worship the living
God in the heart. Keep the heart out of any of
the issues of life. That's where it all is. Bodily
exercise profiteth little, but godliness profiteth in all things.
All right, the angel said, let's look here at verse 9. The angel
said to John, he said, write. Write, John. Don't trust it to
your memory. Don't trust it to your ability
to hand it down to future generations. Write it, John. Put it down.
Put it down. These are the true sayings of
God. These are the true sayings of
God. All right, let's go back and pick up about four of them.
Here in verse 1. Verse 1 is the first of these
true sayings of God that I want to call to your attention tonight.
He says, After these things I heard a great voice of much people
in heaven saying, Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That word is praise
of the Lord. Hallelujah. Because salvation
and glory and honor and power And you need to insert a word
right there, belong unto the Lord our God. Salvation, glory, honor, and
power belong to God. First of all, salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. David wrote in Psalm 38. In Psalm
37 and 39, David wrote again, but the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. He is Alpha and Omega. He's the beginning and
the end and all in between. Salvation, Jonah said, from the
depths of the whale's belly is of the Lord. And some great old
Puritan one time uttered this statement. He said, the whole
of the work, the whole of the work, whereby a lost center is
delivered from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's
dear Son, from the dunghill of sin to the throne of glory, from
the bondage of Satan to the liberty of Christ, is of the Lord and
of Him only. And the royal bath in which black
souls are washed white from their guilt and sin was drawn from
the veins of Emmanuel on the cross of Calvary. And the banquet
of mercy is served by one the Lord of glory. Salvation is of
the Lord. In its planning, in its execution,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. In its application, it pleased
God to call me, Paul said. In its sustaining power, we're
kept by the power of God. Now unto him that's able to keep
you from falling, I believe him who is able to keep that which
I've committed to him, and in its ultimate perfection, Salvation
is of the Lord. Who saved you? Well, God saved
me. Was it an accident or did He
do it on purpose? He did it on purpose. Salvation
is of the Lord. And then He says glory belongs
to the Lord. I want you to turn to Jeremiah
9. Now every man and every woman
is going to glory in something. Going to glory in something.
Unfortunately, we usually glory in the things of this earth.
To glory in something is to take delight in it. To glory in something
is to be taken up with it. To glory in something is to be
pleased with it. To glory in something is to be
proud of it. To glory in something oftentimes
is actually to worship it. And there are people who glory
in their race The Germans did in World War II. You remember
the super Aryan pure race. The Romans did. Some people glory
in their place. They're proud of their achievements.
They're proud that their boss or president. You know, the quickest
way to ruin some men is to give them some authority. I don't
know why, but it just has a way of ruining them. Well, the quickest
way in the world to ruin a man is to promote him. He gets to
feeling his authority. He gets to feeling the pride
of place, you know. I'm a little bigger than somebody.
I make a bigger salary than somebody. I have a bigger house than somebody.
I got more power than somebody. Proud of his place. Isn't that
tragic? Everything we have is from God.
We came into this world naked. We're going out the same way.
I wonder how we get so high and mighty in the middle here. Nothing
to us. Brother Jay said the other day,
none of us were shooting. I think he's right. Why any man
could take any pride in a place when it's so shaky, it's so shaky. And then some people are proud
of their face. That's tragic, isn't it? They're prettier than
somebody else, or they're stronger than somebody else, or they're
taller than somebody else. So proud. Walk around strutting
like a big peacock. If you ever seen a peacock throw
his feathers out, he ain't nothing but a big chicken, that's all
he is. But he spreads his feathers, you know, and prances around
so everybody see how pretty he is. Well, I tell you this, you
won't be pretty long. When time and decay and corruption
and sin get through with you, you'll be just as ugly as anybody
that ever lived. You're headed for one place,
and that's the ground. And no use you being proud of
your faith. And then some folks, God help
them, are proud of their grace. I tell you, there's so much pride
in the ministry, it's pitiful. They're so proud. They're somebody.
They got a little theology, you know. They've been to school.
And they're so proud of it, you know. They can say certain words
that somebody else can't say. Well, I'll tell you one thing.
Barnard said most theologians are missing heaven by 18 inches.
The difference between here and here. That's how far they're
missing. I'd rather have grace here than
all the knowledge that John Owen and Richard Baxter and Andrew
Fuller had put together up here. I'd rather have grace right down
here in my soul. But how proud we are. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. God hates pride. He said
six things I hate. Seven are abomination to me.
Number one, pride. That's what it said in Proverbs.
Read Jeremiah 9, verse 23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his
might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understand and knows me, that I am the Lord which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Isn't that beautiful?
Paul said, I may be not one whit behind the chief apostle, but
I'm nothing. I'm nothing. Salvation belongs to God. All
the glory belongs to God. God said, I'll not give my glory
to another. Move over, Lord, here I am. No,
no, he won't move. You're going to move. He's not
going to move. And then honor belongs to God.
Look at that next word, honor. What is honor? Esteem. He that
honors the Father, let him honor the Son as he honors the Father.
Honor belongs to the Father because he is the Father. Honor and esteem
and awe and reverence belong to the Son because he is the
Son. And honor and reverence and esteem
belong to the Spirit equally with the Father and with the
Son, and power belongs to God. God says, Can I not do with my
own what I will? Our Lord said, All authority
is given unto me in heaven and earth. God said, Nebuchadnezzar,
they will send you out in the field, and your claws will grow
like an eagle, and your hair will grow like feathers. And
you'll stay in that field until you learn that the Most High
God ruleth among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth, and he'll give it to whomsoever he will. I'd rather learn that another
way, hadn't you? By the work of God's Spirit.
God has power to create and power to destroy. He has power to save
and power to condemn. He has power to kill and power
to make alive, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What
doest thou? He said, Does not the potter
have power over the clay to make one of the same lump a vessel
unto honor and one unto dishonor? This is a true saying. I heard
the voice of much people in heaven saying, Salvation, glory, honor,
and power. unto the Lord our God. All right,
look at the second verse. Here's the second saying, For
true and righteous are his judgments. He hath judged the great whore,
which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged
the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said,
Hallelujah, and her smoke rose up forever and ever. All that God does, now listen
to me for the next three minutes. I may offend you, but I believe
it'll be good for you if I do. If you haven't learned this.
All that God does in His sovereign wisdom and purpose toward His
people in Christ Jesus is true and righteous. But that's not
what He's talking about here. I know God's too wise to make
a mistake and too good to do wrong. And whatever he does is
right, is true and righteous in reference to his people through
Christ. But that's not what he's talking about here. This scripture
refers to God's judgment upon false religion. God's judgment
and condemnation upon rebels, upon idolaters. He's talking
here about the great religious system. the great religious organizations
all over this world. God's going to deal with them
someday in judgment and condemnation. All hypocrites and false professors
and those who claim to know Christ who do not know it, as well as
all wicked men, God is going to deal with them. It says here,
for true and righteous are his judgments. He hath judged the
great whore. And all the way through the book
of Revelation, this great whore, and I'm not going to call it
the Catholic Church. Some men do. Gill does, and Spurgeon does,
and quite a few. I don't know. But I do know that
God is going to judge this great contaminated, corrupted religious
system. that blankets the whole world
and denies Christ. It's been here ever since the
world's been here. It was here when Christ was here.
He said, you worship me with your lips but your hearts are
far from me. God said, you bring a lamb and
sacrifice it, you might as well cut off a dog's neck. He said,
you bring oblations, you might as well bring swine's blood.
You kill an oxen in your false religious practice, you might
as well kill a man, God said. That's the religious system.
He's going to judge it someday. And He's going to condemn it.
And it says, the smoke of their torment shall arise forever and
ever. Now what does it mean true and
righteous are His judgments? It means just this. The word
true means that God has foretold them and they're going to come
to pass. That's true. God's judgments are true. Sin
brings forth death. The wages of sin is death. True
are His judgments. God's wrath against sin, God's
judgment against sin, God's punishment of sin, it's true. But he goes
on, he says, secondly, and they're righteous. That is, sin deserves
to be dealt with in that way. Rebels deserve to be damned.
Now hold on to your pew a minute. I don't believe that I could
say praise to the Lord right now if God were to roll back
the curtain and let me see Him send me into hell. I don't believe
I could. I haven't grown that much in
grace. And that is, you say it's growth in grace. Yes, sir. The
time will come. when every true believer will
be so much on God's side and so much understanding of the
glory of God and the holiness of God and the majesty of God
and so understanding of the depths and depravity of sin that a mother
will be able in heaven to say praise the Lord when God sends
her son to heaven. That sounds tough, doesn't it?
That's so. But that's what it says here.
Verse 2, true and righteous are his judgments, that true and
the righteous. He hath judged the great whore that shed the
blood of his prophets and his servants. That religious system
has shed more blood than armies have shed in world wars. Yes,
right. And they've corrupted the earth
with false faith and false repentance and false preaching. And again,
verse 3, that same crowd in heaven said what? Praise the Lord. That's what they said. Praise
the Lord. And the smoke of her torment
ascended up forever and ever. Praise the Lord. God's right. Whatever He does is right. That's what God is going to do
for us someday. He's going to sow Now I see through
a glass dimly, very dimly. I know in part, prophesy and
preach in part. We think we preach so much truth,
and we do compared to what most men know. There's so much more
to know. Oh, there's so much out there,
so much in the revelation of God's Word, that someday, right
now, I pray for my loved ones, I pray for my friends, Like Ricky
prayed a moment ago, if anybody here is without Christ, may God
in His mercy bring them to Christ. Oh God, don't close the door. Call them in. But someday, when
God has closed the door, and men stand without a knock, we'll
say with Him, depart from me. I never knew you. Praise the
Lord. Praise the Lord. Your heart can't be in heaven
and hell at the same time. And I guarantee you, when you're
made like Christ, you'll understand Christ's judgments. When you're
made like Christ, you'll understand how He deals with sinners and
why. And why. You see, I hear people talk about
a man's going to a devil's hell. I wish we'd quit using clichés
that are not scriptural. The devil doesn't have a hell.
He's never ever made anything. Cecil Devlin never created anything.
That's God's hell. Huh? That's right. That's not the devil's hell.
It was made for him and his angels. He didn't make it. Wherever it
is, I don't know, but God's the one that provided it. That's
right. Alright, look at the next statement. I'll close quickly in a moment.
He says in verse 6, I like this, "...and I heard that great multitude,
the voice of great multitude, the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thunderings say, Praise the Lord, the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth." He reigneth. He reigneth. Who are these 4
and 20 elders in verse 4? The four and twenty elders and
the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the
throne. And they are the ones that said the Lord God of. Turn
to Revelation 5. Let's see who they are. Revelation
chapter 5. I'll tell you who they are and
then you can read it. These four and twenty elders represent the
redeemed of all ages. This is the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the redeemed Israel of
God. This is the true Israel of God
of all ages. They're seated around the throne.
I'll show you that. Revelation 5, verse 1, I saw
in his right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written
with the end and on the back side sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy
to open the book and to loose the seal thereof? No man in heaven
nor in earth, neither on the earth, was able to open the book,
neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open, and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold the line of the tribe
of Judah, that's Christ, the root of David, that's Christ,
hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals
thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and
of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb.
as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which
are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him
that sat on the throne. And when he took the book, the
four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them hearts and golden vows full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy. to take the book, and
to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nations, and hast made us unto our God kings
and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." That's who they
are. All the redeemed of all ages, the Church of our Lord
Jesus Christ, They worship, they say the Lord God is sovereign,
the Lord God reigneth. God moves in a mysterious way,
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are filled with mercy and they will break with blessings on
your head because the Lord God reigneth. Your God, your Lord,
your Father. And the last word is in verse
7 and 8 of Revelation 19. Let us be glad and rejoice. Let
us be glad and rejoice and give honor To him, for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, his wife hath made herself ready." Who
is this Lamb? All the way through the Bible,
our Lord Jesus is called the Lamb. He's called the Lamb. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Abraham said, God will provide
himself a Lamb. Isaiah said, He's led as a Lamb
to the slaughter. As a sheep before her shearers
is done, so He opened not His mouth. John said, Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And in
Revelation 5, which we just read, a lamb sitting in the midst of
the throne as it had been slain. The marriage of the lamb. His
come and his wife. Who's his wife? Every redeemed
person. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. He redeemed every one of his
own. And that church is arrayed, verse 8, look at here, and to
her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, white
and clean. What is that? It's the righteousness of the
saints. And Paul gave us a clue to what that is. That's not my
holiness, that's Christ's holiness. Because he said, he prayed that
I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my righteousness
which is of the law. Our righteousnesses are what?
Filthy rags. This church is not clothed in
filthy rags. The bride is not clothed in filthy
rags. I stand down here a lot of times,
and I see these girls come down this aisle here. Boy, are they
pretty. They dress so beautifully. In
their wedding gowns, you know Debbie was the last one, how
beautiful she is. The bride coming down to be married
to her husband. And let me tell you something,
this bride here, the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, she's
made herself ready, but she's clothed in a wedding garment
of His righteousness, His holiness, His obedience. That's what she's
clothed in, and how beautiful it is. It's fine linen, white
and clean. It's not the filthy rags of my
works. It's not the filthy rags of my
religious ceremonies. I'm clothed in the beauty of
Christ's holiness with your spotless garments on. I'm as holy as God's
Son. And that's when the king came
in and saw the man without the wedding garment, asked him how
he got in there. He had on his rags. He had on his rags. And there's
a time when God receives men in their rags, when you come
by faith to Christ. But that's when you lay your
rags aside and put on His righteousness. Robert Murray McShane wrote a
song, When I stand before the throne, Dressed in beauty not
my own, When I see thee as thou art, And love thee with an unsinning
heart, Then, Lord, shall I know, and not till then, How much I
owe. chosen not for good in me, wakened
up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's side, by His
Spirit sanctified, teach me, Lord, on earth to show, by my
love, how much I owe. Often I walk beneath the cloud,
dark as midnight's gloomy shroud, but when fear was at its height,
Jesus came and all is light. Blessed Savior, bid me show,
by my love, how much I owe. Clothed in beauty, not my own. And then he says in closing,
verse 9, Right! These are the true sayings of
God. Salvation, honor, glory, and power belong to God. The
Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. True and righteous are His judgments.
What he does is right. What he does with his people
through Christ and what he does with the law, they're right.
And blessed is he that is called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb. How blessed, happy, highly favored, whatever word you want
to use, is that man or woman that's called to this marriage
supper of the Lamb. It's a true saying. God wrote
it. Our Father in the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord, Deliver us from natural man's religion. Deliver
us from going through the motions, following the traditions, wrapped
up in unproven theories, departing from the Word of the Living God.
Holy Spirit of God, be our teacher. For the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to whom all glories do, and for the good of our eternal
soul, deliver us from presumption and pride and arrogance before
thee. We know nothing. Let us become,
as little children, willing to be taught. He that hath seen
the Father, seen me, and learned of my Father, let us learn. Taught of God cometh unto me. Use this message for whatever
it pleases thee to accomplish that purpose which is right in
thine own eyes. For Christ's sake, amen.